Big Head Amusements

28/05/2025

This is one of 12voltvids best videos - troubleshooting and attempting to repair a Sony SLHFR70 that won't play a tape. First 8 mins. are rich in explaining the workings of MTS and SAP audio; rest is valuable info on swapping parts of the head drum assembly - knowledge that comes from years of servicing decks by various bands and their models. I own a similar 'hifi-ready' Betamax deck and decoder, although its issues are tape loading, and a dead video out.

Well it was working

26/05/2025

The soft-launch of BHA+, my vintage video (and occasional audio) gear review channel, starts off with a blog review of the Sony CCD-VX3 Hi8 Camcorder.

In Part 1: Consumer to Prosumer, I provide a backstory to the iconic camcorder, as well as some of the features it shares with Sony's CCD-V801 and CCD-V5000 - two models I own that began to die slowly due to rotting capacitors, and are now doorstops.

Well, almost doorstops, as those two will be featured in a future blog about using rotting camcorders to make glitchy video.

Part 2 of my VX3 review - titled "3CCDs, Baby!" - will feature lengthy montages of footage shot on Hi8, but let's start with some contextual material in Part 1:

https://bigheadamusements.com/wordpress/?p=3470

03/05/2025

Coming next week is Part 1 of my review of the Sony CCD-VX3 Hi8 camcorder.

I've also been gathering material for future gear reviews, such as whether a with a lens can be used for video. Well, yes, but with a lot of reservations.

However, when applied right, you get some really pretty images. These were taken in & around , as thee meticulously curated foliage is budding with energy.

09/01/2025

New at KQEK.com – review of ROACH, the 3D shortfilm by , released as a limited VHS edition with swag, plus links to my podcast interview with the filmmaker for Big Head Amusements +

Also noted: my non-fiction piece “The Great Tape Swap” for “Hard Media” - the latest issue of , available at fine bricks & mortar videostores like .

https://kqek.com/mobile/?p=20790

In addition to a review of the 3D short film ROACH (2022) on VHS, I’ve an interview with its maker, SCHNUDLBUG, and links to an essay I wrote for the latest issue of BRANDON LIM’s zine,…

04/12/2024

My latest podcast interview at BHA+ is a lengthy conversation with Canadian filmmaker-musician-composer schnüdlbug and the making of his 3-D short film “Roach” where a pilot attempts to escape the debris-laden, toxic surface of a dystopian world, and evade a giant flying roach. We touch upon visual and sonic influences, crafting the film's effects, and assembling materials for a limited VHS release with swag. Also detailed is the first vintage gear to be reviewed at BHA+, with Part 1 coming later next week.

Watch "Roach" the film: https://linktr.ee/schnoodlevideo

Audio-only podcast: https://five.libsyn.com/show/episodes/edit/34264720

Visual podcast featuring trippy analog effects: https://youtu.be/ndIOE0QHg0w

#3-D

02/12/2024

Frames grabs from the Visual Version of the Podcast "Intro to BHA+" which is now available on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/PSzcdfN8rGY

A shorty-short behind-the-scenes montage is available at on Instagram.

The visuals involve a JVC GR-60U filming audio displayed on a vintage B&K 1470 , and a;though the images were recorded to , I used the camera's video output feed to capture higher quality footage to DVD-R.

Besides colour adjustment from the 'scope's green trace to a cobalt blue and some contrast adjustment within , and flipping the image into a vertical mirror, the streaks come entirely from the camcorder's - they were neither created by digital plugins nor analogue devices.

&k1470

01/12/2024

The soft launch of BHA+ begins with a formal introduction to the channel, where I map out my mandate to showcase, inform, contextualize, and support the preservation and creative use of vintage video gear from the 1970s thru the 2000s.

A visual version on YouTube will follow later this evening featuring a lovely combination of my two favourite toys - an oscilloscope, and a camcorder suffering from rotting capacitors with delightful glitchiness.

Audio-only version:
https://five.libsyn.com/show/episodes/view/34217800

Blog-only version with links & stills: https://bigheadamusements.com/wordpress/?p=3757

08/10/2024

I take photos for fun, and as a means to maintain a decent eye & improve composition, as well as the psychological benefit of simply walking, wandering, sitting, observing, glancing, and and looking for something that's interesting. I don't need a new DSLR or a bevy of lenses, and I don't subscribe to obsessively weighing tech details before taking a photo. I just take the damn photo - sometimes just one, or a few, or I waste a wad trying to find something that clicks and may ultimately be rubbish. I'm incompetent with numbers and ratios, and am fine fumbling around because it's inherently a learning curve, but I do the last thing that's cited in this YT piece - zooming into an image and checking for details - because I want to make sure I got the part that seemed most interesting to me, and it's in focus. And if it's a flower, see what the human eye can't see well because of aging eyesight, or the fact many of us lack macro eyeballs, and when you see the fantastic details in nature, you respect its magic even more.

Don't let this mindset hold you back as a photographer! Change your thinking to improve your skills and creativity in photography.Lets all become better comm...

02/10/2024